1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the establishment of a communications channel over a communications network, and particularly, a system that enables a first user to provide a second user with a persistent network object (e.g., a token or coupon) with which the second user can establish a communications channel over a first network between the first and second user, the second user invoking this establishment via a second network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Supposing a first user wants to communicate with a second user via a particular network (e.g., a telephone call) (or range of channels), currently the first user may utilize Instant Messaging (IM) and standard telephone service (POTS, plain old telephone service), both of which allow the first user to request a communications channel (e.g., a telephone conversation) with the second user, a request that the second user can either accept or decline. In both cases, however, the request and communications channel must use the same network and protocol. Further, the request is synchronous, meaning that the first user must wait for the second to decide; if the first user deletes the client on their side of the request (e.g., by shutting off their IM client, or hanging up their phone), the request is deleted.
Call history, a feature provided by telephone service providers such Verizon, provides a history to enable a second user (i.e., the recipient) to attempt to create a telephone communications channel back to the first user after the first user has already hung up. Here, all communications must be delivered over a single communications channel, i.e., POTS. In addition, the first user cannot provide any additional information to the second user concerning their initial request (e.g., the reason or urgency of the request).
Phone Mail is a feature that allows the first user to request a given communications channel with the second user and leave a message—including information about the communications request—that the second user can review after the first user has disconnected their client (e.g., hung up). Here, the second user must use the same communications channel request method as the first user in order for them to establish the communications channel by the first user (commonly referred to as “phone tag”).
Online-Call-Waiting, a service provided by RingCentral, Inc's Buz Me!™ product, supports a situation where a second user receives a (POTS) telephone call from the first user while they are using their telephone line for network access. When this occurs, a pop-up dialog appears on the second user's computer screen allowing them to accept or refuse the telephone call request. Here, all data coming to the second user must flow through their telephone connection; separate data and telephone network connections are not possible.
ConnectIcon, developed by Bell Labs, allows a first user to provide the second user with a data network object, which can both supply the second user with a message and provide the second user with icons that will establish various types of communications channels to the first user (including, but not limited to telephone). This network object can also provide status information concerning the first user's communications channels, e.g., most recent use. This technique does not allow the first user to specify the particular type of connection it wants to establish with the second user.
Voice service on Blackberry devices allow the first user to request a phone call to the second user from a program running on the Blackberry device (e.g., a new address book application), the phone call received by the second user via POTS. This service is not functionally different from the standard phone server, since all data flows over the telephone network and the request is synchronous.
The Camp On feature provided by the ROLM telephone service handles the case where the first user calls the second user, and the second user's phone is busy. The feature, when activated, monitors the second user's line, and when free, calls the first user and then the second user. This feature only uses one communications network: neither the first nor second user can get any indication of the call status via a data network application.
A first user can provide the second user with a Calling Card, which provides payment for all telephone calls made by the second user, as long as the second user places the call in a specially prescribed manner (e.g., one in which the second user indicates the account number stamped onto the card). One with regular skill in the art will appreciate that since the second user can employ the Calling Card to obtain a data network connection (e.g., via an analog telephone line that their computer uses via a modem), the Calling Card can provide payment for both telephone and data network communications. The Calling Card does not restrict whom the second user calls, nor does it restrict the communication channels (i.e., the first user cannot specify how they are to be contacted).
A Call forwarding feature, such as described in commonly-owned, co-pending U.S. patent application Nos. 09/168,248, entitled “Sender-Specified Delivery Customization”, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,684, and 09/511,977 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Providing a Scalable Pervasive Notification Service”, now abandoned, all provide methods for finding and establishing a communication link between a first user and a second user, but none provides a method enabling the first user to initiate a request over a second network with the request delivered via a persistent data network object to the second user via a first network.
While each communications system feature mentioned herein is adequate for its intended purposes, there remains a need in the art to enable a first user to provide a second user with the capability to establish a first type of communications channel with them, this capability relayed to and exercised by the second user via a second communications channel, with the capability persisting after the first user has disconnected from the first channel, and with the capability being sensitive to the first user's availability (e.g., disabling the capability when the first user is unavailable).
It would thus be highly desirable to provide a system and method that enables a first user to provide a second user with the capability to establish a first type of communications channel with them, this capability relayed to and exercised by the second user via a second communications channel, with the capability persisting after the first user has disconnected from the first channel, and with the capability being sensitive to the first user's availability (e.g., disabled when the first user is unavailable).